Liverpool Turn Down £38m Chelsea Bid for Fernando Torres

Liverpool have rejected an offer to sign striker Fernando Torres from Premier League rivals Chelsea.
The 26-year-old has struggled for form so far this season but has scored nine goals in 25 appearances for the Reds.
“Chelsea have made a bid for Fernando, which has been turned down. The player is not for sale,” a Liverpool spokesman told BBC Sport.
The offer is believed to be in the region of £35-£40m and comes after a previous bid by the London club in May.
Chelsea have declined to comment but with the transfer window open until Monday there is still time for them to increase their offer.
Torres has suffered from indifferent form this season following a knee injury which also hampered him at the World Cup in South Africa last summer.
His cut a forlorn figure under Liverpool’s previous manager Roy Hodgson but has looked a different prospect since Kenny Dalglish took over as Reds boss earlier in January and has scored three goals in his last four games.

SOURCE: BBC Sport

Chelsea have of course tried to nab Spanish international Fernando Torres before but this bid, like previous ones, was turned down flat by a Liverpool side who know all to well just how important that 26 year old is to their overall ambitions. The former Atletico Madrid man was a shadow of his usual self during the turbulent Hodgson era but of late has got back into the swing of things.

Three goals in four games as well as a more confident series of performances have changed the demeanour of the prolific marksman who appears to have his hunger back. Kenny Dalglish and Liverpool Director of Football Damien Comolli are planning their attacking third around Torres and are busy looking for a strike partner who can help share the goal scoring burden.

Moves for Luis Suarez have hit something of an impasse but the Merseyside club continue to look for a foil for their goal machine and as such will not listen to offers, however big, for Fernando Torres. Clearly Chelsea realise that their striking options, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, are getting on in years and you can’t blame Carlo Ancelotti for trying his luck.

Despite his current misfiring campaign Torres has netted a very healthy 81 goals in 126 appearances and appears to be very much focused on salvaging something from what has thus far been a traumatic season at Liverpool.